Year in Review: The Coming Age of Automobility and What it Means for Designers

IDEO explores the future "third space" of self-driving cars

This year has seen steady movement towards a new age of automobility. Headlines celebrated the introduction of Tesla's Autopilot system. We experienced the first widespread vehicle recall due to hacking vulnerabilities. The underlying ethics of algorithms being written for autonomous vehicles were discussed. These technological breakthroughs, essential security enhancements and healthy debates over artificial intelligence all herald the approach of a new age that promises to be as significant as the coming of the industrial revolution. We can already sense the possibilities and opportunities ahead. IDEO explored future automobility scenarios through a point of view which can be viewed at: ideo.com/automobility. Designers capable of considering systems as a whole and applying design thinking through considering human needs, balancing the benefits of breakthrough technologies and identifying new business paradigms will be essential in realizing the full promise of this new age of automobility.

Automobiles as a "third space." Designers will shift to considering other activities other than driving as autonomous vehicles become available.

As autonomous vehicles become commonplace, there is a profound upside to getting things right by design. The number of people killed or injured in automobile accidents will drop dramatically. Approximately 33,000 people lose their lives and 2.2 million people are injured in car accidents each year in the United States alone. Today, 90% of automobile accidents are caused by human error. Through thoughtful design, we can finally address the tragic human cost associated with our mobility.

We can also ease the burden placed on our governments and our cities. Americans spend $230 billion annually to cover the costs of accidents, accounting for 2 to 3 percent of our GDP. Clean-powered fleets of on-demand, constantly moving, shared vehicles will keep us sustainably on the move. Valuable city space once used to park cars for 95% of their lifespan will be freed up, ushering in new forms of urban renewal.

Our planet will benefit broadly too. It is estimated that one shared autonomous vehicle could replace 11 conventional cars. Other quality of life benefits will emerge. Unburdened by the need to drive, commuters will recover time to be productive, connected or entertained in new ways. As designers, we will have the opportunity to design engaging new touch points for what is predicted to become an $87 billion autonomous vehicle market by 2030.

Yet, with all this promise on the horizon, designer involvement is essential if we are to avoid unintended consequences. Increased unemployment, social fragmentation and the ravages of poorly designed artificial intelligences could accompany the automobility era just as difficult working conditions, child labor, unprecedented pollution and social unrest came along with the industrial revolution. As Neil Postman argues, it is impossible for a technological innovation to have only a one-sided effect. History bears this out and to help insure that the balance of future innovations prove to be in the service of advancing humanity, designers need to help shape our path to progress. With emergent artificial intelligence just on the horizon, doing so has never been more important.

As designers, we will have the opportunity to design engaging new touch points for what is predicted to become an $87 billion autonomous vehicle market by 2030.

The good news is that in addition to saving lives, our treasure and the planet, designers will improve people's lives by thoughtfully designing for a new type of space in the age of automobility. This new "third space" will exist between the home and work. "Third spaces" will move autonomously and require new interaction affordances for both work and play. They will likely be a mix of shared and owned "third spaces". They will present new opportunities and challenges as designers address the customization of individually owned "third spaces" and work to avoid the undesirable "tragedy of the commons" phenomenon sometimes associated with shared ownership. Finally, new connected, contextually aware services with seamless gesture or voice interfaces need to be designed.

All of this constitutes new and exciting areas for designers to apply their craft and design thinking towards. Making the most of this exciting new age of automobility will not be without challenges. That said, the potential for designers to move us all forward both figuratively and emotionally has never been greater.

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As a Partner at IDEO, Danny serves as an Executive Design Director. With a background in fine art, visual communications and product design, Danny was drawn to the field of interaction design through his interests in visual design and time-based media. He loves working with interdisciplinary teams to shape how we interact with products and services and strives to make the world a better place through focusing on design excellence.

Danny’s deep grounding in interaction design at IDEO has richly intersected IDEO’s transportation and mobility work. Working with many of the world’s leading automotive manufacturers, Danny has helped shaped a variety of innovative Human-Machine Interface touch points for vehicles. Projects include designing for vehicle-to-vehicle interactions, climate and ambience control, vehicle access approaches, gestural interactions, active heads up displays, personal media and device integration as well as wider ranging ownership, training and telematics programs. Many of these engagements have been focused on enhancing safety and positively impacting our ecosystem at large.

Danny’s award-winning work and perspective have been featured in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, WIRED, BusinessWeek, The Atlantic, the Webby Awards, the IDEA Awards, and has resulted in various patent awards. He has spoken internationally about interaction design and design thinking.

Read more at https://www.ideo.com/people/danny-stillion#TeeOPhUzDlpTMm3J.99

Read more at https://www.ideo.com/people/danny-stillion#TeeOPhUzDlpTMm3J.99

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